An Example Of Wealth At Work

George Soros and Barrick Gold

To begin with, it's tricky to research a story involving George Soros and connecting his various interventions with major international events, either because he is such a central scapegoat figure in the various conspiracy cults on the right and the left or, as some believe, because he has paid into those same groups to create false stories that can easily be debunked in order to muddy the waters and make verifiable stories less believable.

Either way, the internet is full of articles about Soros, most of them more or less false, some very true, but mostly on independent/clickbait type news sites with shaky sources.

For this, I'm sticking with articles from a mainstream source on financial issues, The Financial Post, for Soros' actions, These sources have their angles, but the basic facts of the 'buy-sell-buy' manouver Soros used on Barrick Gold are solid, and that's what matters here.

Barrickgold.net will be my main source in regards to the consequences for the planet and the people effected by those actions, since they've been cataloguing Barrick Gold's activities with credible and verifiable on the ground coverage since 2007.

So, with that in mind, here's what Soros did.

As the Financial Post reported on May 17, 2016: "Filings by Soros Fund Management, which the billionaire invester chairs, shows that the fund acquired more than 19 million shares of Barrick in the first quarter of 2016, giving it a 1.7 per cent stake in the miner. Those shares were worth $264 million at the end of March, making Barrick the fund's largest holding.

The bet by Soros on Barrick helps give insight into what has been one of the hottest investment plays of 2016."

So flash forward to August 16 2016, the Financial Post reports "Billionaire George Soros isn’t waiting around to see if this year’s surge in gold-mining shares will last.

Soros Fund Management LLC, which took a US$263.7 million stake in Barrick Gold Corp. in the first quarter, cut its holdings in the world’s biggest producer of the metal by 94 per cent in the ensuing three months, a U.S. regulatory filing showed Monday. After climbing 169 per cent in the year through June, its best-ever performance for the period, Barrick shares have slipped from a three-year high reached last month."

Once he started selling, investors who follow the financial pages jumped to sell too, which is why the stock dropped immediately after.

Then to today, Nov. 15, 2016, the Financial Post tells us that "After selling most of his stock in Barrick Gold Corp. in the second quarter, billionaire investor George Soros more than doubled his remaining holding in the mining company.

Soros Fund Management LLC bought 1.78million Barrick shares in the third quarter, taking total holdings to 2.85 million, according to a regulatory filing. The fund rebuilt its stake in Barrick, one of the world’s two largest gold producers, after selling 94 per cent of its holdings in the second quarter to cash in on the stock’s best first-half performance ever.".

So there's the buy-sell-buy, keep in mind that this is how he's done things for a long time, and he is a 'leader', that is, when he is seen buying, financial pages tell their investors and the investors usually follow however they can, but they can never reap the same kinds of benefits because they're always one step behind.

.Now, further down in that last article, the one from Nov. 15, 2016, there's a quote from financial analysts at Bloomberg about how they've weathered this financial 'storm' that Soros brewed up for them to get more shares for cheaper. “The Barrick train keeps chugging as the company’s continual focus on lowering the cost per ounce of gold produced is paying off, positioning it well for the long term,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kenneth Hoffman and Sean Gilmartin said in an Oct. 27 report."

Lowering the cost per ounce of gold produced.

That's what makes Barrick a stock to invest in regardless of the ups and downs of it's price.

So what is it Soros and his followers are investing in, to lower the cost per ounce of gold produced?

Protest Barrick is a site that exclusively covers Barrick Gold's international operations and the people fighting back against those operations.

The websites creators also have regular in person protests around Barrick Gold's headquarters in Toronto, and protest Barrick Gold's AGM annually.

Their description page " WHY PROTEST BARRICK?": spells out precisely how Barrick Gold succeeds at lower the cost per ounce of gold produced:

'In countries around the world, Barrick takes advantage of inadequate and poorly enforced regulatory controls to rob indigenous people of their lands, destroy sensitive ecosystems and agricultural land, support brutal police and security operations, and sue anyone who tries to report on it. In the context of this libel chill, Barrick has branded itself as the socially responsible mining giant and boasts its listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Behind the scenes, Barrick has a long history of undermining democratic attempts to hold transnational corporations accountable. They were singled out [1,2] as the company most involved in the lobbying effort to stop private member’s bill C-300. This bill would have withdrawn government funding and diplomatic support for companies found – after an investigation – to be abusing human rights or violating international environmental norms.'

A quick glance at Protest Barrick's International Campaigns page is enough to understand Barrick Gold's global reach. I recommend their Debunking Barrick Report for the full story.

Now, about the election.

Many people have dedicated as much time to watching George Soros as the people at Protest Barrick have dedicated to watching Barrick Gold. Barrick Gold is just one company that Soros has bought and sold shares in, his decisions having nothing whatsoever to do with any consideration for human rights, the environment, equality, etc.

So, then, consider his political investments. As the Washington Post reported on October 5, 2015, before the election really got underway and most media, including Washington Post, began evading all serious criticisms of Clinton, "Soros, a top contributor to the Clinton Foundation, was one of several major donors whose messages were disclosed by the State Department last week as part of the ongoing release of the former secretary’s e-mails.".

What was he investing in?

Many people had valid reasons other than 'xenophobia', 'hate', 'misogeny' or 'ignorance for voting to defeat whatever candidate George Soros supported the most, and this consideration outweighed any other. Because a world in which men like George Soros hold the strings of power is a world in which companies like Barrick Gold can never be stopped.